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| January 29, 2002 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 14, 1422 |
No point in holding talks, says Vajpayee
NEW DELHI, Jan 28: In a politically vital endorsement of Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani’s rejection of talks with Pakistan in at least the foreseeable future, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Monday there was no point holding a dialogue only to brace for a battle with the same foe the next day.
And in a distinct hardening of India’s position towards Pakistan, it was the hawkish home ministry that called the shots on Monday and Vajpayee’s remarks appeared to only marginalise the more diplomatically savvy foreign ministry which had been at least keeping up the appearance of hopes alive of talks with Islamabad, even if they were peppered with conditions.
“Our neighbour keeps inviting us for meetings and talks but I ask them what do we do with the meetings, if we have to meet to fight. It is better to remain separate,” Vajpayee said addressing a public rally in the state central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
The rejection of talks follows President Pervez Musharraf’s call for a “serious and sustained dialogue” with India. Vajpayee’s endorsement of Advani’s hardline approach to Pakistan is believed to be a political necessity that has uses in the arriving election in key states.
The prime minister recalled how he had taken the bus-ride to Lahore in search of peace in February 1999. “We talked friendship but actions were different and we were attacked in Kargil.”
Vajpayee’s tough words coincided with the killing of two alleged Pakistani men in the northern state of Jharkhand early on Monday. The home ministry said the men were involved in the recent attack on the American Center in Kolkota in which motorcycle-borne gunmen had killed four policemen guarding the building.
Advani himself confirmed that the two killed were Pakistanis. Later Home Secretary Kamal Pande told reporters that one of the two, Zahid, had even confessed to the crime before he succumbed to his injuries in the raid conducted by the police on the building in which they were hiding. Pande said Zahid belonged to Khanewala District in the Multan region of Pakistan. The other man, identified as Salim, was also from Pakistan. An AK-47, believed to have been used in the incident in Kolkata, was also recovered from the spot.
He added that it had also been established that these persons were linked to Pakistan’s ISI agency.
Pande said intelligence information had become available about a terrorist module in Hazaribagh being run by Farhan Malik alias Aftab Ahmed Ansari who had claimed responsibility for the Kolkata shoot-out in a phone call from Dubai.
It had also become known that Farhan operated this terrorist module in conjunction with Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami an